Chapter 5

• VICTORIA
• I had lost my appetite. I knew he was watching me but when I felt his stare fade away, I turned to watch his graceful figure going out through those glass doors.
• The men in my life have all come and shattered me. How do I know he isn't using this proposal to trap me and eventually hurt me?
• But then, the most important thoughts that ran through my mind right now were my sick mom and my son, Ace.
• I couldn't afford to be selfish and think about my own interests only. This offer could place mom on steady treatment and I could stop borrowing money to pay Ace's school fee.
• He needed some new clothes as well.
• “I will take the offer. As long as I don't have to start loving him, then I will be okay.” I said to myself.
• I quickly booked a cab to the hotel where we had first met. I knew he would be there. Recently, he spent more time in that particular hotel than he did in his other business complexes.
• I thought about Brianna, I knew she was going to give me her consent. I would let her know about all these when I got back from seeing Mr Samson Young.
• “Hi, thank you for arriving early,” I said to the cab man.
• He nodded and I hopped in.
• “Sir, can I roll down the glass,” I asked very politely.
• “Yes miss,” He grunted and looked at me from the rearview mirror.
• He pressed some buttons below the dashboard of the car and the AC went off.
• When the glass was down, the cool breeze slapped around my face. It ruffled my curly brown hair and I ran my hand through my hair to smoothen it.
• Finally, we reached my destination.
• “Thank you sir,” I said to the old driver, as he sped away.
• Turning to the building, I sniffed in some refreshing air and went into the building.
• I was already used to the building but on this particular day it looked all new to me.
• “Hi Stacy,” I flashed a wide smile, greeting my colleague.
• And then I stepped into the elevator which took me to the floor where Samson's luxury office was located.
• His secretary was typing away on her computer when I approached her.
• “Hello ma'am,” I said timidly.
• She looked at me with an irritated look and accessed me from my head to my toe.
• I knew I wasn't in the best of clothes but she saw me here everytime I reported to work.
• I ignored her unwelcoming gesture and said, “Please, can you tell Mr Samson Young that I would like to see him?”
• She looked up from her computer and again, she sized me up. This time she pulled her glasses down to the tip of her nose.
• Without uttering a word, she stood up and went to inform Samson that I was right at his doorstep.
• When she came out, I was told to go in to see the CEO.
• “Samson, I'll do it,” I said.
• And when I spoke those words, I saw his piercing blue eyes light up.
• ‘“Okay, okay, Victoria. I will call my lawyer right now so that we can finalize the agreement here,” He said grinning from ear to ear.
• In less than an hour, the lawyer arrived.
• “Hello, Sam,” He smiled and shook hands with Samson.
• He turned to me offering his hand to me, I took them in a handshake.
• Samson went on to say, “Ben, this is Victoria and Victoria this is Ben. Please guys have your seat.”
• We had all been standing and now we were to sit and move on to the real business.
• “Ben, you already know the situation with my granddad and me getting a wife. To unlock my inheritance, I need to be married. I and Victoria have decided to marry,” Samson said, his lips moving from side to side.
• “I don’t know why I am distracted by his lips but damn those lips are kissable,” I thought to myself.
• “Victoria,” At the mention of my name, I realized that a conversation had been going on and I wasn't listening.
• It was my turn to talk, my attention was needed, “I am sorry sir,” I said, apologising to the lawyer who had been calling my name.
• “There is no problem, Victoria. I was just telling Samson that you both have decided to take a bold and crucial step in this contract marriage,” He said.
• “I would suggest that this contract marriage be kept away from public knowledge. Since you both are not social media influencers, it is important that it is kept private to protect the interest of you both,” He emphasized.
• I totally agreed with him, he spoke my mind. I wanted the real circumstances behind our marriage to be kept secret.
• Let the public just think it was a normal marriage of husband and wife.
• “Miss Victoria, look at these papers. It contains the details concerning this contract marriage. It contains the terms and conditions, I want you to read it properly and if there is anything you would like to change or suggest you can do so,” He said, handing me the documents.
• “You too, Samson,” He handed the copies of the documents to Samson.
• Silence fell in the office as we all went through the details of the contract marriage. For me, it was crucial for me to read through anything I wanted to sign, very well, so I didn't sign away my life.
• “Haha,” I laughed within me at the thought of unknowingly signing my life away.
• I went through it and saw he had already put in my price, a whopping six hundred million dollars and his estate located at Coral Gables, Miami.
• “This man is not joking. Mama, your recovery is here,” I said to myself.
• “The contract also stated that I had my right to move freely but I wasn't going to do any job,” I said out loud to them because I needed some clarification.
• “Okay, Victoria it means that within the duration of the contract marriage, you have your freedom but you won't need to work because everything will be provided for you. You are to be the wife of a very powerful billionaire,” He said.
• As long as I would still have my freedom, I was okay with it. Samson waited for me to sign and as soon as I signed, he signed as well.
• I immediately remembered that my son, Ace, needed to be protected. How wo
• uld I continue to keep him a secret? I needed to be close to my son but now I had already signed a contract to marry this man, how would I hide my son and still be with him?
• Oh my God! I didn't think about this.